Telly
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2003
- Messages
- 2,395
"America The Broke" by Gerald J. Swanson.
I'm not a financial genius. But I'm not an idiot either, having been able to EER! This book is disturbing, as it dovetails with my feeling of major trouble ahead if there aren't some major major changes.
I'm not a gloom and doom person, but it looks like arguing over SWR rates and the like is a fool's paradise to our debt/deficit/Medicaid(deficit)/Medicare(deficit)/Soc.Sec.(deficit) problem ahead. Federal Debt and the increasing amount of tax revenue to service it. Hiding under the present low low interest rates, that have nowhere to go but up. A future of increasing deficits, a lot dependent on entitlement programs. There is only so long that you can spend what you don't have... and what is that point? What associated factors will make the tipping point occur suddenly?
Nothing like mentioning debt or deficit to get people's eyes to glaze over, and for them to stammer something like "it's all numbers", "it'll be okay" (duh!) what makes you say that? "It's never happened before..." (well, not to US, but it has to OTHERS!).
To me, the premise of this book is a sound one. We may argue over politics, and who did what when, but that is water over the dam. And the water keeps on flowing...
Having had to lay off people over multiple recessions, I can say that the sacred cows that "can't be touched" will get gored when basic survival of the organization is at stake.
There is no way I can do this book justice in a few paragraphs. Go borrow it. Its more than a book, it's an idea, a vision of the future, and how we are getting there by keeping our collective heads in the sand.
Would be great if we could get President(s) & Congress & politicians in general & special interests & social "activists" to agree we have a big and fast growing problem, and to get to work on it. Yeah, it would be great. Believing in the Tooth Fairy seems more likely.
I'm not a financial genius. But I'm not an idiot either, having been able to EER! This book is disturbing, as it dovetails with my feeling of major trouble ahead if there aren't some major major changes.
I'm not a gloom and doom person, but it looks like arguing over SWR rates and the like is a fool's paradise to our debt/deficit/Medicaid(deficit)/Medicare(deficit)/Soc.Sec.(deficit) problem ahead. Federal Debt and the increasing amount of tax revenue to service it. Hiding under the present low low interest rates, that have nowhere to go but up. A future of increasing deficits, a lot dependent on entitlement programs. There is only so long that you can spend what you don't have... and what is that point? What associated factors will make the tipping point occur suddenly?
Nothing like mentioning debt or deficit to get people's eyes to glaze over, and for them to stammer something like "it's all numbers", "it'll be okay" (duh!) what makes you say that? "It's never happened before..." (well, not to US, but it has to OTHERS!).
To me, the premise of this book is a sound one. We may argue over politics, and who did what when, but that is water over the dam. And the water keeps on flowing...
Having had to lay off people over multiple recessions, I can say that the sacred cows that "can't be touched" will get gored when basic survival of the organization is at stake.
There is no way I can do this book justice in a few paragraphs. Go borrow it. Its more than a book, it's an idea, a vision of the future, and how we are getting there by keeping our collective heads in the sand.
Would be great if we could get President(s) & Congress & politicians in general & special interests & social "activists" to agree we have a big and fast growing problem, and to get to work on it. Yeah, it would be great. Believing in the Tooth Fairy seems more likely.